Love Is The New Year



Happy New Year! I am so glad that God blessed us to see 2020. My church, Unity Pentecostal Temple, ended the year with our annual shut-in service.  On the first day, God took me to 1 Peter 1:22-23.  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.  
After studying this passage, I realized that God was dealing with me about love.  He was also giving me the assignment of the believer. We are to love!

Love is a word that people use so lightly.  We love to eat.  We love to dress.  We love to hear good music.  All that is fine, but when it comes to people, do we really love?  The Bible uses the word, "unfeigned" because we must recognize that false love is in the world.  There are people who say they love you, but it is in word only.  It will never manifest in deed because it isn't true love.  That kind of love is based on emotion and sometimes, tradition.  It is the kind of love that is only given in return for what it can get.  It s the kind of love that is spoken for the benefit of the hearers but isn't from the heart. 

If you want to know if your love is real, wait until it is tried.  Can you forgive when you've been betrayed?  Can you feed your enemy without an expectation of praise?  Can you accept people where they are without being their judge and jury?  Can you love people who you know don't love you? Sounds tough? Sounds unreasonable? Well, you know where I'm headed with this.  That is exactly what Jesus has done for you. But God commendeth love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.   Romans 5:8

Many are looking for a change in 2020, I submit to you today, that change will be dependent upon the sincerity of your love.  If you don't know how to love like God, read his word and he will show you.  He is the ultimate example of unfeigned love. 

Reaching the lost at any cost,
Pastor Dr. Odie Kennedy
Photo by Bonvivant Free Images

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